Hollywood Bowl ‘Kinky Boots’ review: Wayne Brady to the rescue

Kinky Boots was going about her business on Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl when a meteor hit the stage and set the musical on fire.

This planetary body is named after Wayne Brady, who returned to his Broadway performance at the Bowl this weekend as Lola in Harvey Fierstein and the Cyndi Laupers Tony Award-winning musical.

The show, which takes place in a shoe factory in Northampton, England, is not ideal for an outdoor presentation. David Rockwell’s assembly line backdrop seems lost on the vast stage, and British provincial midfield dissipates into the SoCal evening air.

Jerry Mitchell, who directed the original Broadway production and won a Tony for his choreography, staged the weekend show strategically for the giant video monitors. There was no point looking straight ahead of the stage, even for those with premium seats. In fact, the production struck me as a tryout for a future live music show on NBC.

Jake Shears, leader of the Scissor Sisters, kindly fulfilled the role of Charlie, the son of the shoe factory owner, who unexpectedly finds himself at the helm of the company after his father’s death. But the musical nonetheless had a dull feeling at first.

Based on the Miramax movie, Kinky Boots has plenty of backstory to go through before Lola shows up with the charge of a theatrical defibrillator. Lauper won a Tony for his score, but the numbers at the start of the show didn’t grip the audience in the energetic way that’s required in a picnic environment.

Brady, glamorously outfitted as a cabaret Wonder Woman, steps in to the production’s rescue much like Lola saves the day for Charlie, who has already decided to shut down the failing shoe factory when a chance encounter with this drag queen triggers an ingenious business idea: Why not make shoes for men who dress as women?

Lola, hired as a shoe designer, transforms not only the business, but the sexual politics of an entire community. Fierstein brings those lessons home in a book that continues his campaign to broaden viewers’ perspectives on gender expression and sexual identity.

In her recent memoir, I Was Better Last Night, Fierstein pays homage to Bradys Broadway turn as Lola.

While I loved Billy Porters’ portrayal of Lola in Kinky Boots, and we could never have developed the series without his singular talent and showmanship, it wasn’t until Wayne Brady took over the role that audiences eventually listened to the character say he preferred women and accepted him as a transvestite heterosexual.

What caught my attention was the star quality of Bradys. He was as comfortable in Lolas’ wardrobe as in the skin of the characters. And his singing had the assurance of one of the great R&B powerhouses of yesteryear. He endowed Lolas Act II’s solo number, Hold Me in Your Heart, with a touch of Dionne Warwick enchantment. (Music director and conductor Stephen Oremus squeezed just enough exuberance from the orchestra.)

The most beautiful song in Laupers’ score, Not My Fathers Son, is shared by Lola and Charlie, who discover they have more in common than meets the surface. Bringing home the emotional truth of this number, Brady and Shears extended the shows vision to anyone who seeks to be true to their own individuality despite differing parental expectations.

Jake Shears and Kelly Marie Tran in Kinky Boots at the Hollywood Bowl

(Greg Grudt / Mathew Imaging)

Two other performers deserve credit for their excellent work in this presentation of the Bowl. Kelly Marie Tran, who played Lauren, the factory worker who becomes Charlie’s good love partner, delivers a delightfully neurotic version of The Bad Guys Story. And Daniel Stewart Sherman was cast perfectly as Don, the big, small-minded thug at the factory whose conscience is heightened by Lolas’ willingness to empathize even with him.

Marissa Jaret Winokur, who won a Tony for her lead performance in Hairspray, was in the cast but unfortunately didn’t have much to do. A group of drag queens looking for drag queens provided a delicious backup for Lola. (Hats off to costume designer Gregg Barnes for enlivening the dreary factory venue with sparkle and glitz.)

Brady is best known as a TV personality, but his performance in Kinky Boots revealed a treasure trove of musical comedy talent. Quick, someone writes him a starring role in an original show. Any genre will do.